Kuhn&Komatsu have developed a massive new all-electric mining vehicle known as the “E-Dumper”. I liked reading about this vehicle because it represents such a simple yet effective idea: heavy thing going downhill can store its energy through breaking (two birds one stone), and use that energy to put the now-lighter truck back up the hill (three birds one stone!).

Summary

-Mining trucks historically are absolute monsters of fossil fuel usage. They need immense power to remove tons and tons of material from mines.

-Much of the time a truck full of materials is going downhill to drop off its load, and then goes back uphill much lighter to be refilled. This downhill phase is very brake-intensive, and the uphill phase is a breeze comparatively.

-This new all electric engine contains a massive battery that charges when the truck moves downhill. Instead of conventional braking, the force of the braking is used to charge a battery.

-With this energy-producing framework, trucks with routes like this (heavy downhill light uphill) can actually generate clean energy that they store per day, effectively using none at all. Of course in actuality one should also expect cases where a heavy truck drives uphill and a light truck goes downhill, like when leaving a quarry, but this doesn’t change the fact that in some mining scenarios this truck consumes no energy and actually produces it.

Stakeholders

Mining companies

Truck producers Kuhn & Komatsu

Battery Producers

Electric utilities receiving excess electricity from trucks

Three Steps

1 – Assess feasibility of wide production of these huge batteries / their lifespans (is it worth it?)

2 – Market the truck to other mining outfits

3 – Develop a framework for mass production if one is not already in place.

The power reserve for the “e-dumper” is 600kWh, as much as an average home in the Mid-Atlantic US uses in a month. In one day, the truck can generate 200kWh of energy from 20 round trips. What happens, however, if this truck isn’t’ going downhill everyday, and can’t generate energy from breaking?